Welcome to the Greater Atlanta ACAMS Chapter web page! This new Chapter was founded in 2011 by an Executive Board composed of professionals from the AML field active throughout the Greater Metropolitan Atlanta region. The Chapter’s role is to assist the international association in its mission to advance the professional knowledge, skills and experience of those dedicated to the detection and prevention of money laundering and to combating the financing of terrorism. The Chapter will serve AML professionals throughout Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee by providing meaningful opportunities for ongoing professional development and networking. The Chapter will be a resource for financial institutions and related businesses to identify specialists in the rapidly expanding anti-money laundering field with meetings and events of local interest available to members and non-members. By joining and participating in the Chapter, you can keep your AML skills up to date while developing deeper relationships with others sharing your passion and commitment to protecting their company, customers and communities served.

The Atlanta Chapter of ACAMS launched in June 2011 and was formed to advance the professional knowledge, skills and experience of anti-money laundering professionals in the region. If you are interested in joining the chapter, please click here.

You must be a member of ACAMS to join a chapter. For ACAMS membership information, click here ACAMS Membership.

Terrorist Financing – an Overview

May 5, 2017

Speaker

John Mowiser, FBI

John Mowiser has been with the Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) since 2004. Mr. Mowiser was assigned to the Counterterrorism Division / Terrorist Financing Operations Section where he supported international terrorism investigations by conducting financial intelligence analysis and research. Mr. Mowiser has presented case briefings or counter terrorist finance training to international partners in Canada, Sri Lanka, Pakisatan, and Qatar. A financial analysis conducted by Mr. Mowiser was used in an OFAC designation of a Maryland-based charity associated with a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Mr. Mowiser transferred to the Atlanta Division in 2007 and is assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Mr. Mowiser graduated from Florida State University with a degree in International Affairs. Mr. Mowiser began as a bank investigator in an anti-money laundering unit in 1999 and rose the level of Assistant Vice President before leaving for the FBI.

2017 BSA/AML Emerging Risk Symposium

February 16, 2017

Safely and Profitably Banking Money Service Businesses (MSBs)

November 17, 2016

Speaker

Mr. Jay Postma, CAMS, CFCS

Mr. Postma is a nationally recognized expert on the nexus of banking and MSB relationships. Since founding MSB Compliance in 2006, Jay has provided consulting services to numerous MSBs, TPPPs and banks on BSA/AML compliance issues, conducted independent reviews, and worked with a variety of businesses to ensure effective risk mitigation.

Persistent fear and the resulting “de-risking” by banks has resulted in significant pain, anxiety and sleepless nights for operators of lawful, compliant MSBs. Recognition of the market pain and resulting fee based revenue opportunities is now beginning to lead many Community Banks to reconsider whether they might safely and profitably serve the MSB market.

Banks have often been pressured to refuse banking services to companies and industries that are deemed of higher potential risk and that may pose a “reputational risk” to the bank. Regulatory communications often simply meant that a bank needed to up their game – their BSA program wasn’t sufficiently robust to address potentially higher risk clients. MSBs were an easy target with banks believing they had improved simply by de-risking. Such banks missed the point and should have instead improved their program.

Mr. Jay Postma, CAMS, CFCS will explain: why consumers and businesses do business with MSBs rather than and in addition to banks; revenue potential in banking MSBs; how to evaluate, approve/disapprove, onboard, and monitor MSB relationships. Regulatory oversight of MSBs will be discussed and key industry associations identified. And, there will be an interesting discussion of the compliance and regulatory issues related to MSBs.

$10 Late fee for any attendee after Friday, November 11th

Wire fraud and business email compromise

September 8, 2016

Speaker

Emma Waddell

Emma Waddell is Senior Vice President, AML Director in Corporate Risk Management for SunTrust and she will be speaking to our group about the JPMC consent order and her experience coming into a new financial institution.

Ms. Waddell joined SunTrust in 2016 after 13 years with JP Morgan Chase. In her current role, Ms. Waddell leads the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Department. At JP Morgan Chase, Ms. Waddell held numerous roles in various lines of business: Retail, Asset Management and Corporate Investment Banking where she led large scale technology and change management programs from the strategy to the execution. She has extensive experience in BSA/AML having created and held the AML Executive role in the consumer and Wealth Management business for 4 years. She led this line of business through preparation, response and execution for that firm’s BSA/AML/OFAC Consent Order with policy updates, technology implementation and customer remediation activities. Previously Emma designed and deployed a Know Your Customer and Risk Scoring application within the Asset Management business; to include the remediation of customer information, full integration with customer prospecting and account opening. Prior to JPMorgan Chase, Emma was a management consultant. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rutgers University and her Masters of Business Administration from The University of South Carolina.

The National Cyber-Forensics Training and Alliance group will be presenting to the Atlanta ACAMS Chapter and the Georgia Association of Fraud Examiners Chapter on wire fraud and business email compromise.

Speaker:

Tiffany McLee, CAMS, is an Intelligence Analyst for the Cyber Financial (CyFin) Program at the National Cyber-Forensics Training & Alliance (NCFTA), specializing in cyber threats affecting the financial services industry. Tiffany has the responsibility for providing intelligence analysis on various financial fraud scams including business email compromise (BEC), account takeovers, customer email compromise (CEC) and other scams. Previously, she was a Senior Anti-Money Laundering Investigator for a financial institution. In this role, she was responsible for performing analysis and investigation of complex financial transactions to identify potential money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Prior to the role of Senior Anti-Money Laundering Investigator, Ms. McLee was an Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Department of Justice where she was responsible for researching and analyzing drug trafficking patterns along the Southwest Border and other trend analysis. Tiffany received her MPIA and B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.

An Overview of the NYDFS’ Proposed AML Certification Requirements

February 25, 2016

Speaker

Mr. Daniel is Co-chair of the Payment Systems practice and is a partner in the Corporate Department. He is recognized as one of the country’s leading attorneys in payment systems law, including electronic payments, mobile payments, prepaid cards, virtual and digital currencies, and money transmission. Chris focuses his practice on non-bank and bank financial institutions and other companies participating in the banking and payment systems of the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Vegas in Atlanta – Gambling Compliance for AML Professionals

November 5, 2015

Judy Carter Newberry, Chief Compliance Officer &amp Supervising Partner for Regulatory Compliance at Aldridge Pite LLP, will present on the latest legal, political, and legislative developments for casino gambling in Georgia. In this interactive lunch and learn, attendees will discover the challenges facing a casino as a “financial institution” under Bank Secrecy Act federal regulations and the regulatory challenges unique to a proposed casino located in Georgia. Judy will discuss recent developments, settlement orders, and case law to give perspective on industry trends. Finally, Judy will make predictions about the potential impact of an Atlanta casino to Georgia and to the southeastern region as it relates to establishing a regulatory framework and best practices for casino compliance.

Judy Newberry
Guest Speaker

Judy has more than thirty years of legal experience. As the Supervising Partner for Regulatory Compliance at Aldridge Pite, Judy advises financial institutions on compliance matters, including drafting policies compliant with state and federal laws, licensing, managing vendors, preparing for audits, and responding to regulatory examination findings. She has presented on a number of regulatory and compliance issues facing financial institutions and the financial services industry. Judy previously worked as the Deputy Commissioner for Legal & Consumer Affairs at the Georgia Department of Banking & Finance. In her capacity as Deputy Commissioner, she acted as Chief Legal Officer for the state agency charged with the regulatory oversight of state-chartered banks and non-depository institutions, including mortgage lenders and money service businesses in the state of Georgia. Judy worked directly with state legislative counsel, state assembly members, and committees of the Georgia General Assembly on items and legislation relating to the regulation of financial institutions. She also acted as legal advisor to department senior management regarding complex mortgage and banking issues. Judy has served as a subject matter expert for regulatory organizations and has chaired or sat on the board of a number of industry committees.

Banking & Data Analysis – “AML Safe” Marijuana Banking

July 30, 2015

Guest Speaker: Clark Gilder

Clark Gilder is an Atlanta-based angel investor and technology executive with 30 years of software industry experience who has spent the last 10 years applying new technologies to banking problems. He holds over 10 patents in various banking & electronic payment systems as well as data mining techniques and is now leading a new company to make sales of legal marijuana safe for banking. Prior to launching his own software companies, he spent 12 years at Microsoft in Redmond WA where he worked in various operating roles, including Worldwide Technology Evangelist and as Lead Program Manager on the Windows development team shipping Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. His accomplishments include being the first two-time winner of the Windows Division “Gold Star” award and being one of the very first Microsoft Certified System Engineers in the World.

Clark has served on the board of the Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) investment group as well as being Chairman of ZeeWise, the leading service for Franchisee – Franchisor Business Intelligence, along with serving on various “board of advisors” for a number of Atlanta startups. In addition, Clark is the CEO of BankingTHC.com, a next generation BSA product that utilizes the patented data collection technologies from ZeeWise and reapplies them to solve the marijuana banking crisis. Clark joined the software industry after graduating from The Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Systems Engineering and Operations Research.

Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery

Mr. John Schmarkey, CAMS, CFE is co-chairman of the Atlanta ACAMS Chapter, which covers all of Georgia. He has over thirty years of experience in complex financial crime investigations and law enforcement instruction. He served twenty seven years as a Special Agent, for U.S. Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, retiring June 30, 2011. After retirement, he was appointed a Senior Instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and for the SouthWest Border Anti Money Laundering Alliance, responsible for teaching federal agents and state and local detectives. Since April 2014, he has been with MSB Compliance Inc. in Atlanta, as a Compliance Specialist, conducting independent BSA/AML compliance reviews for various types of Money Service Businesses, community banks and credit unions. Mr.Schmarkey is also managing partner of Forensic Partners LLC, a licensed Investigative firm for the financial services industry. He is an accounting graduate of the University of Alabama in Birmingham and member of Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Jay is the founder and President of MSB Compliance Inc. which provides BSA/AML compliance consulting to money services businesses and other financial institutions. With over 25 years experience in financial services, Jay has worked as an intrepreneur within the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and entrepreneur at Towne Services and at El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad to create value while ensuring effective risk mitigation. As Vice President, Division Operations Manager, and Bank Secrecy Act Officer with Flag Bank until its acquisition by RBC Centura, Mr. Postma advised executive management and the Board of Directors of increasingly stringent BSA regulatory expectations and revised, developed and implemented formal compliance policies and procedures. Since founding MSB Compliance in 2006, Jay has provided consulting services to numerous MSBs and banks on BSA/AML compliance issues, conducted independent reviews, and worked with a variety of businesses to ensure effective risk mitigation.

Amanda Carter is a Deposit Operations Manager of State Bank & Trust Company. Prior to managing operations support, Amanda provided BSA expertise at another financial institution for a number of years. Amanda holds a Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CBAP) certification with the ICBA as well as an ACT Specialist designation with the Department of Human Services.

William Leopold
Co-Membership
SunTrust Bank

William is a BSA/AML Investigator for SunTrust Bank and specializes in high risk wire activity. Prior to joining SunTrust Bank, William was an Atlanta Police Officer for four years and has experience investigating various financial crimes. He has taken courses and received certifications on financial investigations, identity theft and fraud, and intelligence analysis at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center and Atlanta High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Prior to the Atlanta Police Department, William served two years in the Israel Defense Forces and achieved the rank of Sergeant. William has a Bachelor in Arts in Political Science from Binghamton University of New York. He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and serves as a Board Member for the Atlanta Chapter.

David Dinkins, CAMS, CFEState TreasurerEquifax

David is the Director of Business Development and Subject Matter Expert for Equifax with areas of expertise in Risk & Compliance, Know Your Customer (KYC), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions. In his role, he works with organizations to solve business challenges and design effective risk management solutions to mitigate risks with particular focus on compliance, money laundering and fraud.

David has over 11 years of experience in the financial services industry including holding various positions at a large financial technology company and two of the largest U.S. based financial institutions. He has deep knowledge of fraud, compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) processes, analytics and technology and works with financial institutions, money services businesses and insurance companies on deploying best practices.

David has successfully worked with institutions in implementing suspicious activity monitoring programs, installing various automated solutions, and streamlining processes while ensuring all regulatory requirements are met. He is skilled at recognizing and reducing operational discrepancies/risk, as well as increasing revenue through improving existing systems and implementing customized financial crime and risk management solutions. He is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Wes Burton
ITC Financial Services, Inc.
Co-Treasurer

Wes Burton is CAMS certified, and for the last two and a half years, has served as the BSA/AML Compliance Manager for ITC Financial Licenses, Inc., which is one of the largest prepaid card program managers in the U.S. Wes has over 14 years’ experience in the financial services industry where he held roles in investments, banking and mortgages at Merrill Lynch, AIG, and Wells Fargo. While in his current role, Wes has worked with organizations like the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) and the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance to understand new threats on the financial industry and help in connecting industry to law enforcement.

David is a Partner with Frazier & Deeter LLC, where he leads the Firm’s Forensic Services practice. During his career as a forensic expert, he has investigated fraud, corruption or financial damages in more than 200 cases. He has provided expert testimony in more than 20 of those matters. With his background as a practicing CPA and internal auditor, he also consults with organizations on improvements of internal controls, as well as fraud prevention and detection. He is a Board Member Emeritus of the Georgia Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, where he was elected president four times. He has previously served on the Forensic Accounting Task Force of the Georgia Society of CPA’s and as Chairman of GSCPA Annual Forensic Accounting Conference. David is a graduate of Auburn University and has served as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer to thousands of professionals and students on the topic of fraud examination and forensic accounting.

Cindy is a Senior Audit Manager with SunTrust Bank in Atlanta, GA on the dedicated BSA/AML Audit Team. She began her career with SunTrust in 1998 in Internal Audit focused on bank operations. In early 2000 Cindy’s work focus shifted to BSA/AML audit, with increasing emphasis on BSA/AML after 9/11/2001. Cindy now leads audits to provide the BSA/AML independent testing under the Patriot Act requirements, evaluating controls in the SunTrust lines of business and the overall SunTrust AML Program.

Cindy has a B.A in Finance from University of West Georgia. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and a Certified Bank Auditor (CBA). She has been a member of ACAMS since 2006, and a member of the Atlanta ACAMS chapter since its inception.

Karen Bitler has over 35 years of banking experience with regulatory, internal audit, examination, compliance, anti-fraud, risk management and lending knowledge. She is currently a VP at The Piedmont Bank who is responsible for management of the BSA, Information Security, Compliance, Risk and Bank Security areas. Her background and the majority of her experience is centered around financial institutions in all areas of Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance. Her experience includes, Quantum National Bank, Bank of America, MSB Compliance, Inc., ING Insurance Americas, Embassy National Bank, RBS Lync, SunTrust Bank, Inc., GE Consumer Finance, Resolution Trust Corporation, Office of Thrift Supervision, Wells Fargo and FDIC. Karen graduated from Virginia Wesleyan College with a Bachelors in Business Management, received her ACAMS certification in 2013 and has a Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification from GE. She is married with one son who is currently enrolled in a local Technical college.

Derya White, CAMS
Co-Secretary
Moneygram

Derya is a Senior Compliance Officer with MoneyGram International. Derya works with National Account Agents as a primary compliance resource. Derya specializes in helping drive Agents to implement and enhance compliance and anti-fraud policies and procedures. She reviews and analyzes Agent policies and assists in the strengthening and development of Compliance and Anti-Fraud programs.

Derya earned her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Engineering Science at Vanderbilt University. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and a Certified Mediator.

Kenneth serves on the Review Board for the ACAMS- Advanced AML Audit Certification program. A Compliance/BSA professional serving the financial industry for 30 years. Kenneth is the SVP, Chief Compliance / BSA Officer of Hamilton State Bank in Georgia. Subsequent to this he served as a SVP, Compliance/ BSA Testing Division Manager for BB&T. Kenneth Served as a Compliance/ BSA Specialist Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller Currency (OCC) and the Federal deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). During this tenure he served as an instructor for the OCC’s Compliance Examination School and the Advanced BSA School for Examiners. Kenneth also served as the Functional Examiner-In-Charge for several Mid-size financial institutions. He has served as the General Auditor for a multi-billion dollar financial institution; served as a Compliance Officer for smaller Community Banks; and V.P Compliance Officer for some of the country’s largest financial institutions. Kenneth has spoken at industry conferences throughout his career and served as a panelist for The OCC, FNMA, Alabama Banker’s Association – BSA conference, and ACAMS AML Conference. Kenneth has published a BSA-related white-paper entitled “Learning from the mistakes of others”. This is the only white-paper ever published addressing BSA Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs) issued by the OCC.